Bauchop

This old Scottish name is said to be a corrupted form of "Wauchope" a name derived from Wauchopdate in the parish of Langholm, Dumfriesshire. If this is so, the name is first recorded in the original form in the reign of William the Lyon of Scotland (1165-1214) when one Ada de Waleuhope witnessed a Land Charter to the Abbey of Melrose. In 1249, Robert de Walwehope was one of the twelve knights selected to represent Scotland in the "Battle" against the twelve Knights of England to settle the Law of the Marches. The variant spellings to Bauchop, Bauchope or Bachop include Robert Bauchop, merchant of Edinburgh in 1604, Thomas Bachop, Treasurer of the City of Stirling in 1622 and William Bauchop, Sergeant of Edinburgh in 1630. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Thomas Bawchop, which was dated 1591, recorded as a "Chapman of Dunblane", during the reign of King James VI of Scotland, 1567 - 1625. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.